How Can I Discern What Ministry God Wants Me to Pursue?

Discerning the will of God for your ministry would start with a deep and recurrent desire, which is a good thing. Then you must test it. You test it by its recurrence, asking, "Does it last?" And you test it biblically by asking whether it's a godly desire. Does it come from a desire to glorify Christ? Will the pursuit of this work lead to the glory of Christ?

After that you test it in the community. You bounce it off of wise counselors. The Bible makes much of good counsel.

Finally you look for opportunity. You don't so much wait for the Lord to give some explicit command to do it. You look for opportunity. You ask yourself, "Is the Lord opening the door for this good and godly vision that I have?"

But even that, I would say, might be too passive. Because if you have a deep passion that something good be done, and there is nothing wrong with doing it, and the people around you say that you're gifted to do it, you may just knock down the door. If there's no real reason why you shouldn't do it, then knock down the door and pursue your passion.

You shouldn't be hung up on waiting. If it would be a good thing, if it would benefit the church, and the people around you endorse it, then I think you should move and not wait.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books.

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